Innholdsfortegnelse for 44 i Today's Quilter

As the festive period sees many of us heading home to spend time with family and friends (and get some much-needed rest), I thought we could all use some help in our travels with Lynne Goldsworthy’s gorgeous Mariner’s Compass quilt. Sewn in shades of red, cream and white, Lynne’s magnificent cover quilt will hopefully guide you in the right direction. Lynne, as always, wowed the whole team with her stunning design, and we’re sure your version will have the same effect! And, if you get a chance to settle down with some stitching over the Christmas break, please do send a picture of your creation to TodaysQuilter@immediate.co.uk, as we love to see what you’re making. Talking of travelling home, follow the shining star in Karen Lewis’ fresh take on the…

AS I MIGHT have mentioned before, nothing puts a smile on my face like receiving flowers – no matter the time of the year. I love a freshly cut bouquet, potted florals, seeds for the garden and, of course, sewn flowers. So, although the weather is turning colder and the days shorter, here at Today’s Quilter we couldn’t think of a better time to brighten your home with some beautiful blooms. And when we spotted the stunning foundation paper pieced blocks designed by Linda Causee for Annie’s Publishing, we just knew we needed to share them with all of you. There are 24 floral blocks included in the collection, with 12 of them featuring flowers for each month of the year. They’re the perfect pick for that special someone’s birthday…

Carry a phone or small camera with you so that you’re always ready to take photographs of anything that catches your eye. “I feel lost if I don’t have a camera on me, as intriguing things can crop up in the most unexpected places,” Cherry says. When visiting new places, pick up brochures and any other literature pertinent to the place. Cherry finds that looking through these, together with images she has taken herself, often suggests ideas for new quilts. Keep your eyes open for interesting odds and ends. When walking, Cherry regularly picks up items such as twigs, leaves, shells, seaweed or bits of metal, many of which she uses as mark-making tools. Go to as many art exhibitions, galleries and museums as you can. As well as seeing…

“Deciding on a quilting design can be tricky – I’m not a very adventurous quilter and years ago when I started teaching patchwork and quilting, I came up with a simple and quick design that lends itself to a pieced patchwork block. In class, it became known as ‘Sheila’s Star’ and featured in many of my students’ quilts. Fig 10 shows a diagram for the star, should you like to use it. “Starting at the top right corner (indicated by the red dot), follow the arrows until you arrive back at the start. Mark in chalk or with a Hera marker and use a larger stitch than for piecing, say 3 to 3.5. (Repeat to yourself – corner to middle to corner to middle etc, until corner to start/finish!) “Try…

You will need ■ Background fabric – One (1) Fat Quarter ■ Scrap fabrics in three colours – Two (2) 10in squares and one (1) 5in square ■ Block templates (see Templates section) ■ Template plastic Block size ■ 12in finished (16in with frames) Notes ■ Fabric quantities are for the vintage block only (see page 85). For fabric quantities for the frames, see issue 42. ■ This block of the month is hand-pieced. For detailed instructions of this technique, see issue 42, or the tutorial on www.todaysquilter.com Cutting out 1 From the background fabric, cut as follows: ■ Four (4) pieces using template D. ■ Four (4) pieces using template D reversed (Dr). ■ Eight (8) pieces using template C. 2 From the pieces of scrap fabrics, cut as…

“These are lovely little bags to carry your sewing kit around in. The great thing about hand piecing and the quilt-as-you-go method is that you can take your sewing projects with you everywhere – so it’s best to keep your sewing supplies at the ready. When you have piecing you’d like to take with you, pop it into this little bag along with your necessary sewing supplies. “Why not use some of your favourite fabric scraps, left over Layer Cake squares, or re-use vintage linens for this sweet little pouch? If using vintage fabrics, just make sure they’re clean and repaired where needed before stitching with. You can even choose fabrics to coordinate with the quilt you’re making, as I did – three versions for three quilts!”…

The Longarm Learning Curve Facebook group was set up to provide support to all Handi Quilter owners at a time when there weren’t a lot of teachers who could help them. They started setting challenges for their members five years ago, aiming to take them out of their comfort zone and to try something new, all while increasing their skill level. Fast forward five years, and two galleries of quilts – made by members of the Longarm Learning Curve group, calling themselves Radiance Quilters – will be touring with Grosvenor Shows in 2019. The group chose two very different themes of “Vintage Reworked” and “Ice Dyed” for their challenges, so as to attract a diverse range of members. “We didn’t expect everyone in the group to want to take up…

The patterns All of the blocks in this book are 7in finished. However, you may choose to enlarge one or more blocks to use for a pillow or wallhanging. Some quilters may enjoy working with larger pieces of fabric, which is another reason you may choose to enlarge these designs. The full-colour patterns have more than one section that must be foundation-pieced individually and then sewn together. Bold lines, that are also the cutting lines, indicate these sections. A piecing diagram is included with each block showing the piecing order of the sections. Also included with each block pattern is a photograph showing the completed block. Note: the finished blocks are mirror images of the original patterns, (Fig 1). Fabric We recommend using 100 percent cotton fabric for piecing. By…

You will need ■ One (1) Fat Eighth bundle or scraps of fabric in graduating shades ■ Scraps of yellow for the centre ■ Background fabric – ½yd ■ One (1) Hibiscus FPP template ■ Round cushion pad – 14in Finished size ■ 14in diameter Fabrics used ■ “Orchid” Fat Eighth bundle, plus “Linosa” (yellow) and “Camargue” (background) fabrics, all available from www.oakshottfabrics.com Notes ■ Laura used an enlarged version of the hibiscus template, see step 1. ■ You could use any flower template of your choice for this project. Preparing the template 1 Enlarge the foundation piecing template on page 27 from A4 to A3 size (141%) using a photocopier. 2 Trace each lettered section individually onto its own piece of paper, as described on page 7. Remember to…

Nicola Dodd COUNTRY COTTAGES Nicola’s charming cottages quilt (page 36), made using a Layer Cake, will have you dreaming of lazy afternoons walking in the countryside. Sheila Donnachie TOP TABLE Sheila has taken the Kansas Star block and made it in three sizes for her stylish table runner. Turn to page 49 to read more. Pam & Nicky Lintott PASTEL PYRAMIDS Never ones to waste fabric, mother and daughter duo, Pam and Nicky, have created the cleaver design on page 79 using a Jelly Roll.…

CREATIVE RETREATS Time Out Escape from it all – and learn a new skill at the same time – by visiting Le Jardin du Berger in South Charente, South-West France. Qualified textiles teacher, Bronwen Shepherd, gave up her career in the UK to set up a studio space with accommodation to offer sewing holidays to those in need of an escape. At Bronwen’s rural retreat, you can enjoy some mindful stitching, fine-tune your free machine embroidery skills, or even learn to make your very first quilt. There are also bag making and dressmaking classes on offer. Bronwen’s fully-equipped studio has Bernina sewing machines, an overlocker and all the other essentials you might require – all you need to do is pack your fabric, sun cream and swimming costume! Bronwen is…

We’re giving one lucky reader the chance to win this colourful collection of Michael Miller Cotton Couture fabrics. The bundle includes 36 Fat Quarters in a rainbow of jewel-toned hues – the perfect collection to get you through those winter blues. Constructed from pure cotton, the silky soft fabric boasts a high-density weave that delivers a soft handle and luxurious finish. To enter and for T&Cs, go to www.todaysquilter.com/category/competitions/ for your chance to win this exciting bundle.…

You will need ■ Background fabric and sashing strips – ½yd ■ Star fabrics (Fabric A) – Five (5) Fat Eighths or scraps ■ White star background fabric (Fabric B) – ½yd ■ Light grey for block sides (Fabric C) – One (1) Fat Quarter ■ Dark grey for corners of blocks, borders and backing (Fabric D) – 1yd ■ Batting – Approx. 50in x 16in Finished size Approx. 14in x 48in Notes ■ If you prefer, you can layer up with batting and backing in the usual way, adding a binding. Sheila chose to “bag” the quilt top, using batting and backing only, no separate binding necessary. Sorting the fabric 1 Choose four (4) fabrics for each block, referring to Fig 1. Sheila used a different coloured fabric for…

For the last few months, we’ve been learning some tricky techniques, so let’s have some fun and get creative with trims and an easy patchwork technique. “It’s time to create something special and use up some of the braids and trims we all have laying around.” – Lin Clements WHAT IS STITCH AND FLIP? Stitch and flip, also called flip and sew, is a term you might see in quilting books, magazines and online. It is generally used to describe a technique where one patch is sewn to another, with part of that patch then flipped over into place. It is commonly used to create triangles on a piece of patchwork, by starting with a square instead of a triangle. When you think about it logically though, all patchwork…

The seeds for this article were first sown after a visit to the Clydebank Museum and Art Gallery in 2017, where I was inspired by the Stitch in Time – Story of the Sewing Machine exhibition. Captivated by the complex history of this game-changing invention, I found myself delving deeper into the “genealogy” of the Singer story. I found myself pondering the question that if the Kilbowie Factory in Clydebank produced roughly 36 million sewing machines from 1884 to 1943, just where are all those machines now? Unable to resist the allure of those shiny gold Singer decals illuminating the windows of so many antique dealers, I bought myself a fine old 1930’s Singer Featherweight. On my virtual journey to find advice on how to care for my new acquisition,…

“This block is the second Sampler block on the first row of the quilt. Knowing where the block will be in the quilt will help when making your fabric choices. I’ve designed the Block of the Month so that you can stitch the blocks and quilt them ready to put together in the forthcoming months, without worrying about how the quilt will look. The other three blocks in the row are the Lattice “filler” blocks. If you keep quilting as you go, you will soon be ready to sew your first row together. “The Grandmother’s Choice block is one I’ve always enjoyed stitching, and it’s great for using up leftover scraps. Whenever I see an older version of this block pieced into a whole quilt, it never fails to catch…

Are you a new Handi Quilter owner? The Longarm Learning Curve welcomes new members. It’s a worldwide community with regular meet-ups and joining is a great way to make new friends within a non-competitive environment. If you have any issues or difficulties, there’s always someone in the group that can help. To find out more, visit www.facebook.com/groups/LongarmLearningCurve The Radiance Quilters’ galleries will be on display at Grosvenor’s Newark, Ardingly, Harrogate, Duxford, Exeter shows and Quilts UK Malvern. www.grosvenorshows.co.uk…

Measure the width of a particular space on your pattern (e.g section 7); add Ω in and cut a strip to that width, (Fig 2). You will save time since you won’t have to trim each seam allowance as you go. Use only a small amount of a fresh glue stick to hold fabric in place. It is especially helpful to use a glue stick to keep larger or narrow pieces in place on the foundation until the blocks are sewn together. Sewing with a very tiny stitch will allow for easier paper removal later. If paper falls apart after stitching, your stitch length is too small and you will need to lengthen the stitch slightly. If using a paper foundation, carefully pull paper away from stitching for easier trimming.…

Where does the time go? By the time you read this, Christmas will have been and gone. It seems that however early I start my festive planning, I never have enough time to complete all my ideas. We even run a “Christmas in August” class, but each year I fall behind. Perhaps now, just as the season comes to an end, is the perfect time to start planning for next year… The quilt features a mixture of hand-appliqué, and I bonded it with wool and flannel fabrics. I always enjoy using a variety of materials, as it creates such a lovely texture. I decided to add a touch of seasonal sparkle by machine quilting it with a fine silver thread. As metallic thread can be difficult to use, I gave…

Textile artist Cherry Vernon-Harcourt made traditional pieced quilts for many years, but reached something of an impasse having lost interest in this way of working. In 2004, a visit to The Festival of Quilts inspired a fresh approach. “I was fascinated by Committed to Cloth’s cloth-colouring demonstrations in The Creative Textile Studio. After some deliberation, I signed up for their Wet & Wild course, which was one day a month for a year. It was absolutely wonderful and opened up a whole new world of quilt-making possibilities for me – and I haven’t looked back since!” Wet & Wild classes teach the basics of putting colour onto cloth via many different methods, mostly using fibre-reactive dyes, such as Procion MX dyes. Cherry says, “I had previously done some bucket dyeing,…

“This table runner uses just one block design, constructed in three different sizes. Each block comprises nine Square-in-a-square patches, so there’s no need for cutting individual triangles or making Half-square Triangles. In my sample, I used a controlled neutral pallette with splashes of colour – all from my existing stash. A pleasing quilt will usually have a good mix of colour values. In this table runner design, the stars share the limelight with the outer corners of each block. Ordinarily, I would have thought a combination of colours like this might confuse the eye, as the design is made up of mainly neutral fabrics, but the coloured stars and charcoal fabric work well together to make the pattern stand out. “That said, my husband couldn’t identify the stars at first,…

I have some decorative embroidery stitches on my machine but when I’ve tried them in the past, they seem to make the fabric gather up, making it difficult to lay the fabric flat. Is this normal? Try this… Some decorative machine embroidery stitches are quite dense and can pull on the fabric, causing slight gathering. Adding braids and trims to the strip-pieced unit can also cause puckers in flimsy fabrics, especially if the braids and trims are thick. The late, and much-missed Pauline Ineson, a creative master of machine embroidery techniques, always used a tear-away stabilizer on the back of the work before any decorative techniques were started. Her gorgeous book How to Create an Heirloom Quilt gives many wonderful ideas and dozens of tried and tested techniques. Before adding…

You will need ■ One (1) Jelly Roll or forty (40) 2½in strips cut across the WOF ■ Background fabric – 2yds ■ Sashing fabric – 2½yds ■ Binding fabric – 22½in x WOF ■ Backing – 85in x 100in ■ Batting – 85in x 100in ■ Multi-Size 45/90 degree triangle or a specialist ruler for making Quarter-square Triangles Finished size ■ 78in x 93in Notes ■ WOF = width of fabric. ■ LOF = length of fabric. ■ QST = Quarter-square Triangle. ■ HST = Half-Square Triangle. Sorting the strips 1 Divide your chosen Jelly Roll, as follows: ■ Nine (9) light strips. ■ Thirty-one (31) medium strips. Cutting out 2 Fold each strip over, doubling up the fabric. This means that two (2) triangles will be cut simultaneously.…

You will need ■ Outer bag – Two (2) 10in squares ■ Lining – Two (2) 10in squares ■ Casing – Two (2) 2½in x 17in, or one (1) Jelly Roll strip cut to length ■ Ribbon for the drawstring – 56in long x ⅜in wide, cut into two (2) equal lengths ■ Cotton Perle thread – No. 12 for top stitching ■ Large safety pin to thread the ribbon through the casing Finished size ■ Approx. 9½in x 10½in Making the pouch 1 Make the outer bag by sewing the two (2) squares together, right sides (RS) facing, around three (3) sides (Fig 1). 2 Repeat with the lining squares, but leave a 2in gap in the middle of one (1) side (Fig 2). 3 Cut a 1½in square…

Foundation paper piecing is a wonderful technique to master. Once you have, it opens up a world of design possibilities, allowing you to sew and create blocks that would be impossible with traditional piecing methods. The gorgeous flower blocks within offer beautiful examples of what can be done with the technique – and we fell in love with all of them. Just think, you could make a multitude of projects featuring your favourite flora, or give a special friend the gift of a beloved bloom. Although some of the designs are quite intricate, the final results are always worth it. We hope you enjoy bringing these flowers to life, stitch by stitch, as much as we did! The designs and information in this supplement are taken from 24 Flower Quilt…

■ Begin and end sewing at least two to three stitches beyond the line you are sewing on, (Fig 21). ■ Don’t worry if your stitching goes through a whole space and into another space, (Fig 22); it will not interfere with adding subsequent pieces. ■ Finger-press or press with an iron after every seam. The little wooden “irons” found in quilt shops or online work well. ■ Use a short stitch, around 20 stitches per inch. ■ Trim seam allowances from ⅛in to ¼in (or smaller if necessary for small sections). ■ Don’t worry too much about the grain line. Sewing to a foundation stabilises the fabric and will prevent it from getting out of shape. ■ When sewing spaces with points, it is easier to start sewing from…